CINEMA, MUSIC & ART WITH THE
JUNE 2012 VOL 02 ISSUE 09 ` 40
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Sanjna Kapoor + Arundhati Nag + PC Ram + Atul Kumar ......and many more
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CINEMA, MUSIC & ART WITH THE
EDITOR’S NOTE
After a treat for cinema enthusiast in the last edition, this month. we feature everything there is to offer from the stage. That’s right, Theatre is the theme for the month. The Brew brings you some of the biggest names in Indian theatre such as P. C. Ramakrishna, Sanjana Kapoor and Arundathi Nag sharing their thoughts and experiences. We also take a look at some of the top theatre holiday destinations from around the world. Classic movie fans and foodies are in for some delights as well! The streamlining has begun and it is smooth sailing. Sameer Bharat Ram Editor
Creative Director 01 Mihir Ranganathan
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Art Director 02 Sibiraj Bastin Sr. Graphic Designer 03 Ajay Kumar 04 Suhail
This month we take you inside the delicious, magical world of theatre in India, and the world.
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Our exclusive interviews with two of Indian theatre’s most influential women, Sanjna Kapoor and Arundhati Nag, make for fascinating reading as they talk of their personal journeys and their vision for theatre vis-a-vis Indian youth and society. Vinod Anand’s witty and comical take on Shakespeare’s famous speech is a must-read. And our Proust questionnaire with PC Ram, gives you keen insight into Chennai’s theatre god.
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BRAND PARTNER
Sub-Editor 05 Poornima Nair 06 Abhinav Krishnasamy Asst. Editors 07 Amrutha Anandanathan 08 Zayn Marie Khan
Operations 09 Mohit Sinha 10 Jai Kumananthaa Raaja
All directors have a favourite show or play - one which is dear to them and has made a lasting impression. Vikram Kapadia, Anahita Uberoi, and Gowri Ramnarayan among others share their most cherished experiences with our Brew readers.
Circulation & Sales 11 Seeman Ezhumalai
We hope you enjoy this special issue, and are inspired to go watch a play, or pen a script, or even take to the stage as an actor! Happy reading! Aarti Aney Associate Editor
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Edited and Published by Sameer Bharat Ram, and owned by SM BrandMuni Consulting Pvt. Ltd, Published from No.609, Lakshmi Bhavan, Anna salai, Mount Road, Chennai - 600 002. Tel.: +91 44 4208 9392. Printed by K. Srinivasan at Srikals Graphics pvt, Ltd, No.5, Balaji Nagar, 1st street, Ekkattuthangal, Chennai - 600 032. Editor: Sameer Bharat Ram
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CONTRIBUTORS AND ADVISORY BOARD Kunal Verma He discovered his love for photography when he missed his camera most on a bag-pack trip round the country. Some of his favourite campaigns include Sharp, Metro Shoes, Tuscan Verve, Sakhi Sarees, Sattva, Pantene Shampoos, Fevicryl, Jet Airways, Dr. Reddy’s, and Helpage India. Kunal’s fine art photography works have been showcased at “Pleasures with coffee for Barista Creme”, The Ashish Balram Nagpal Gallery (Frame of Mind), Jahangir Art Gallery (Exhibit A – 2002), and Nehru Centre (Exhibit A – 2001). Shot this month’s The Brew cover with Naseeruddin Shah.
Venket Ram Venket Ram is a leading Indian celebrity & fashion photographer, who has shot principal photography stills for several notable films as well as portfolios. He quit his engineering studies to work with cinematographers for a while, then joined a course in Visual Communication at Loyola College. After that, he worked with photographer Sharad Haksar and in 1993, started his own studio. He recently released the first two editions of his annual calendars in 2011 and 2012 with an overwhelming response.
Kavita Baliga The young American Soprano, Kavita Baliga has sung in concerts around the U.S., Switzerland, Italy and India with repertoire ranging from Opera and Oratorio, Musical Theatre to Indian film. In 2008, Ms. Baliga joined A.R Rahman’s KM Music Conservatory as a faculty member and founded the KMMC Chamber Choir. She is presently developing performance programmes in India.
Mallika Sarabhai Educated as an economist and a business manager, Mallika Sarabhai is one of India’s best known Bharatanatyam and Kuchipudi dancers. She has taken her work and her company Darpana to not only over 90 countries around the world, but also to the farthest parts of India.
Ashok Verghese Is one of the youngest education entrepreneurs who is making a great difference in this field in the country. He is the Director of the Hindustan group of Institutions, again one of the pioneering educational groups in the country. He supports the cause of promoting young talent in art and music.
Neeru Nanda A graduate from Delhi University. Passionate about writing, she freelanced as a feature writer for ten years before switching to publishing. Author of a collection of short stories titled “IF” (Rupa & Co), Neeru is now working on two novels and a series of books for children.
Veejay Sai An award-winning writer, editor and a culture critic. He has written and published extensively on Indian classical music, fashion, theatre, food and art, and loves traveling, researching literary and cultural history. He is an editorial consultant with over 40 brands and designers in and outside India and is on the jury for several prestigious awards in the arts across the country.
Dr. M. Lalitha and M. Nandini Internationally acclaimed, award winning Violin Maestros Dr. M. Lalitha and M. Nandini have been widely applauded as the ‘Queens Of Violin’ and have enthralled audiences across the globe. They have been selected as Cultural Ambassadors and dignitaries to the US and UK respectively. They have published books and written numerous articles relating to Music and religion..
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CONTENTS
FEATURES
INTERVIEW
10 Exprementing with
arundathi nag
Flavour
12 On plays and profitability
shakespeare with a twist
26 the amazing
sarangi samraat 26
REVIEW
spiderman
30
COVER STORY
django
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32
sanjna kapoor
the persistent crusader 18
38
p. c. ramakrishna
13 20
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indian theater's first lady
in the hot seat
vinod anand 20
18
george thomas
midnight cowboy
36
neeru nanda
for one more day
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ART
flavour
EXPERIMENTING
WITH T
here is this little segment on ITV’s The IT Crowd, a UK-based sitcom, where two of the characters eat at a restaurant called The Flappy Duck, run by Heston Blumenthal. To outsiders, the episode outrightly spoofs the idea behind fancy food in general, making the characters eat the cutlery, a stereo system and drink milk as if it were wine. To an insider, it would seem as if the show’s creators were merely highlighting the fancier part of the world that molecular gastronomy was only beginning to explore. For starters, Heston Blumenthal exists, and is one of the gurus of present-day molecular gastronomy. He also owns The Fat Duck, a restaurant famous for its association with the science.
This science of cooking also blends together the two seemingly disparate ideas of theatre and food. Customers who can afford it, are looking for the visual fix along with the flavour. Molecular gastronomy employs a variety of instruments that are influential to this aesthetic. Pyromaniacs can fully satisfy themselves as they watch the chef lace into their mousse with a blow-torch, while at the adjacent table, a couple can observe with wonderment, as their ice-cream is flash-frozen with some liquid nitrogen. The subject matter might seem a little too heady to digest at first, what with chemistry and different shapes and sizes being involved. Herve This, considered by most to be the father of molecular gastronomy, laid the groundwork for the science, after conducting over 25 years of research. The science’s basics can be boiled down to the following: combining foods of a common chemical breakup to form something completely different and unique.
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Although bacon-flavoured ice cream has been in practice since the 1990s, Heston Blumenthal’s recipe involves five main parts: the ice cream, caramelized French toast, roasted tomatoes, a slice of Italian bacon(pancetta), and a tea jelly. The bacon is slightly roasted and then infused with milk for 10 hours. The mix is heated with precision to overcook the eggs which will enhance the eggy flavour. The mixture is then sieved, churned and frozen. The unfrozen ice cream is then injected into eggshells, and flash-frozen with liquid nitrogen! An offshoot of molecular gastronomy is foodpairing. Foodpairing is much akin to wine and food pairing. The practice involves analysing different foods and finding out which ones go well together depending on their matching flavour components. Heston Blumenthal discovered this years ago, and inadvertently laid the foundation for foodpairing while trying to deduce the effect of salt on the taste of chocolate. Foodpairing uses various laboratory techniques like High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) and Gas Chromatography. Did you know that Caviar and white chocolate complement each other almost perfectly? Or chocolate and cauliflower? Comparing the flavors of individual ingredients can result in new and unexpected combinations, such as strawberries paired with peas. Foodpairing has also featured as proof for pairings made long before like bacon and cheese, asparagus and butter. These pairings have many similar flavour components. This methodology of foodpairing has opened up an entire world of possibilities
Picture this: Snail Porridge, Bacon and Egg Ice Cream, Sardine on Toast Sorbet. No one in their right mind would immediately succumb to the apparent delectability of these dishes. This is where the science of molecular gastronomy plays a huge role. Abhinav Krishnaswamy takes a measured look at some of the practices that encapsulate this science, with the help of some facts and some recipes. Molecular gastronomy has certainly paved the way for greater innovation in the kitchen, not to mention creation of new and unusual dishes. Some dishes created by Herve This and others are: Gibbs - infusing vanilla pods in egg-white with sugar, adding olive oil and then microwave cooking. Named after physicist Josiah Willard Gibbs (1839–1903); Vauquelin - using orange juice or cranberry juice with added sugar when whipping eggs to increase the viscosity and to stabilize the foam, and then microwave cooking. Named after Nicolas Vauquelin (1763–1829) Baumé - soaking a whole egg for a month in alcohol to create a coagulated egg. Named after the French chemist Antoine Baumé (1728–1804). What does this spell for current consumerist fare? Not doom, per se, but rather a slight shift in the plates. Molecular Gastronomy is still fairly new as a science and as a culinary outlet. Presently, it associates itself with the upper-class of dining, available almost exclusively in five star hotels and Michelin-star restaurants. Then again, exclusivity is the policy with this science. The charm would wear off if it were otherwise. For example, if a performance of The Vagina Monoluges was open to the public, regular connoisseurs of theatre would find it a lot less appealing if the everyman could watch it as well. It might take a lot longer for the layman to acclimatize himself with merely the idea of Snail Porridge, though.
Molecular
Mixology
The scientific approach need not be excluded to just food; molecular mixology makes for interesting presentation styles and concoctions, using similar equipment. Spherification is the most popular practice, where liquids are shaped into spheres as small as caviar and as large as egg yolks. Another interesting aspect is the use of a vacuum sealer, where the ingredients to a cocktail are mixed together in a vacuum, in order to create unique flavourings and textures. Amazingly, even nonedible components such as tobacco and leather can be added to alter the flavour.
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ART
T
he idea of theatre as a financially viable art form has always been looked at with some degree of skepticism. A few production houses have broken away from the current mold and have created an environment that is self-sustaining. Abhinav Krishnaswamy takes a look at the changing trends in theatre. Chennai, even when it was Madras, has had a long standing relationship with its theatre productions. There had rarely been a want or need for more theatre. This mistaken sense of complacency led to a decline in groups performing in the city for a decade between the 1980s and 90s. Theatre, on the whole, is not known as a lucrative endeavor in India, much like the Indian indie music scene. A lot of it is taken for granted; a lot of it treated as evening entertainment that is reasonable, intellectual to those who crave it but lack it, and sans the glitz of multiplex cinema. A few theatre groups like The Madras Players have gotten by on pure credential, over and above everything else, and rightfully so. The group, formed in the 1960s, has stood the test of time and has churned out numerous acclaimed theatrical performances over the decades. Nationwide, the thought process has morphed dramatically, into a process of reasonable fortitude. People actively follow theatre, taking in as much as they can during the season without being partial or selective in choice. Additionally, young theatre groups have sprouted up, like MYT (Masquerade Youth Theatre). These groups have used an oft-repeated formula of word-of-mouth via the “friends-of-friends” system. This ensures full houses, regardless of content or theatrical prowess. This may seem like a negative idea at first, but it is necessary to get the word out, however average the play or skits may be. For these young upstarts, the support they have received has been essential to their productivity. MYT is now putting up another play, four months after their previous one.
based revenue as the revenue from ticket sales are negligible in Chennai with footfalls not exceeding 8,000 for a show and ticket prices around Rs. 200. With the development of an acting school on the cards, the company is taking theatre to schools and corporate houses. They are designing a theatre module for schoolchildren from class five to nine. Sideways Training, a sister-concern of Evam is working on a 125-hour certification course for engineering students. This reasonable amount of success owes itself directly to the increase in the number of young persons that have taken up an interest in the art form, either as a professional or a spectator. Themes and angles of plays are consequently tailored to suit current lexicon. Bits of vernacular are thrown in to make the plays closer to home. The advent of social media has further expanded to scope of publicity for a production. Websites and online portals like bookmyshow.com have made the purchase of tickets easier. Facebook and Twitter keep followers on upcoming productions. Individuals can be invited to an “event”, which can be repeatedly shared, to drive home the point.
ON PLAYS AND
P`OFITABILITY
One of the benchmarks for the success of an artistic endeavour is the instant recognition that is received during a conversation. That immediate identification that follows the name-dropping is always pleasant to the artist, and there is the indication that something is being done right. Production houses like Evam are a testament to this. Evam at the start was known for its humour quotient, putting out sketch shows which went down very well with audiences looking for something new and fresh. This was followed by quality theatre, in the form of full-length plays that caught on tight and didn’t let go. Evam now boasts of that which is considered far-fetched by most production houses: profitability. Other productions that have begun generating profits are houses like ASAP, Masquerade, and MYT. The company has had turnovers of Rs. 70 lakh last with sponsorship accounting for abouta tenth of revenue. They have plans to have fee 12 | june 2012 | Cinema, Music & Art with the Brew
The recent monetary gains of theatre have encouraged productions to travel around the country, reaching a wider audience and receiving larger acclaim. At the base, there is always the need to “get the word out”, since any publicity is good publicity. The good news is that it is finally working.
The success, although seemingly prevalent, is lacking foremost in the support department. Though the plays these days have more young people as viewers, the productions need to be backed by external bodies who are sympathetic to the cause. Ideas, however left of centre, need backing in order to realise fruition. A certain ratio of the public is responsible for creating this order, so that the new breed of theatre performers and the public can co-exist, assisting each other during the process of growth. Backing from the government can be viewed as a prerequisite for the promotion and sustenance of theatre in India. A point of reference for this: France. Money is very rarely a cause for concern among theatre artistes there. Theatre personnel are provided monetary support while in the midst of working towards staging a productiong. This gives them a livelihood whilst devoting their time to their art form. The subject matter that is tackled in today’s plays is a lot more bold, risqué and urban. There is a sense of identification between the performers and the public, articles that would be found only in a story involving a vocalist and an adoring audience, in the past. Crowds have begun, even though it is only slightly, to recognise and acknowledge the impact that plays or musicals have on them. It will only be a matter of time before the acknowledgement turns into acceptance.
Shakespeare witha twist
Friends, critics, countrymen, lend me your ears; I come to praise theatre, not to bury it. The evil that theatre does lives after it; (The wife hates my long hours) The good is oft interred with its script; So let it be with my love for it. My noble friends hath told me thou art ambitious: If it were so, it was a grievous fault, And grievously hath I answer’d it. Here, under leave of my friends, and the rest— for my friends are honorable men; Come I to speak in theatre’s praise. She was and is my love, faithful and just to me: But my wife says she was possessive; And my wife is an honorable woman. Theatre hath brought many captives home to arguments. Whose gate sales did the general coffers fill? Did this in theatre seem ambitious? When that the actors have cried, producers hath wept: Ambition should be made of sterner financial mettle; Yet she says we were ambitious; And yet theatre is an honorable mistress. You all did see that on the stage I two score and four times presented her a royal crown, Which she did two score and four times refuse: was this ambition? Yet my critics sayI was ambitious; And, sure, they were honorable. I speak not to disprove what they spoke, But here I am to speak what I do know. You all did love theatre once, not without cause: What cause withholds you then, to mourn for her? O judgment! thou art fled to brutish beasts, And audiences have lost their reason. Bear with me; My heart is in the coffin there with tickets from a mall, And I must pause till it come back to me. But yesterday the word of dramatists might Have stood against the world; now lies it there. And none so poor to do them reverence. O masters, if I were disposed to stir Your hearts and minds to mutiny and rage, I should do multiplex’s and gaming centres wrong, I will not do them wrong; I rather choose To wrong the dreamers, to wrong you and me, Than I will wrong such honorable pastimes. But here’s a script with the seal of Police approval; I found it in my closet, ‘tis my will: Let but the commons hear this testament— Which, pardon me, I do not mean to read— And they would go and kiss theatre’s bleeding wounds And dip their napkins in its sacred blood, Yea, beg a scene of it for memory, And, dying, mention it within their wills, Bequeath it as a rich legacy Unto theatre’s issue. Have patience, gentle friends, I must not read it; It is not meant you know how theatre loved you. You are not wood, you are not stones, but my audience; And, being theatre lovers, bearing the will of us all, It will inflame you, it will make you mad. Will you be patient? Will you stay awhile? I have overshot myself to tell you of it: I fear I wrong the honorable critics Whose daggers have stabbed theatre; I do fear it. You will compel me then, to read the script? Then make a ring about the proscenium, And let me show you that visualized script.
Shall I descend? And will you give me leave? If you have tears, prepare to shed them now. You all do know this mantle: I remember The first time ever theatre put us in it; ‘Twas on a summer’s evening, on a little stage, That day we overcame the Nerves: Look, in this place stood the dramatist, dagger through: See what a rent the envious multiplex made: Through this, the well-beloved television stabbed; And as they plucked their cursed remote away, Mark how the blood of theatre followed it, Judge, O you gods, how dearly remote’s spawned them! That was the most unkindest cut of all; For when noble theatre saw him stab, Ingratitude, more strong than traitors’ arms, Quite vanquished it: then burst its mighty heart; And, in its mantle, muffling up its face, Even at the base of a playwrights statue, Which all the while ran blood, great theatre fell. O, what a fall was there, my countryman! Then I, and you, and all of us fell down, Whilst bloody treason flourished over us. O, now you weep; and, I perceive, you feel The dint of pity: these are gracious drops. They that have done this deed are honorable: What private grief’s they have, alas, I know not, That made them do it: they are wise and honorable, And will, no doubt, with reasons answer you. I come not, friends, to steal away your hearts: I am no orator, as Ionesco was; But, as you know me all, a plain blunt man, That love theatre; and that they know full well That gave me public leave to speak of her: For I have neither wit, nor words, nor worth, Action, nor utterance, nor the power of speech, To stir men’s blood: I only speak right on; I tell you that which you yourselves do know; Show you sweet theatre’s wounds, poor, poor dumb lovers, And bid them speak for me: but were I Beckett, And Harold Pinter, there were a Vinod Would ruffle up your spirits and put a tongue In every wound of theatre that should move The stones of India to rise and mutiny. Yet hear me, countrymen; yet hear me speak. Why, friends, you go to do you know not what: Wherein hath theatre thus deserved your loves? Alas, you know not: I must tell you then: Moreover, she hath left you all her walks, Her private arbours and new-planted orchards, On this side of the interval; she hath left them you, And to your heirs for ever, common pleasures, To walk inside, and recreate yourselves. Here was a play! When comes such another? Now let it work. Mischief, thou art afoot, Take thou what course thou wilt!
Vinod Anand
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ART So, after all these years, Prithvi Theatre and you have parted ways. Yes (laughs)! I always said I thought of Prithvi like a baby, and someday it would grow up and leave home. So it has finally grown up, and it was time I left. I was at a stage where I had emptied myself of everything that I could have given to it, and I was bursting at the seams to do more. The dream of realisation of Junoon had to happen. How is the Junoon workshop for kids different outside of the space of Prithvi Theatre? The Summertime at Prithvi is exactly the same program as the Arts At Play with Junoon. I have now brought Summertime under the Junoon umbrella. If anything its consolidating and getting stronger. For instance, for the last two years we’re doing peer-sharing workshops where we are brainstorming with the conductors, and we have gathered this incredible, delicious crop of 25 conductors. They, and what they bring to the foray, are our USP. Each conductor learns from the other. These are our internal processes. So Prithvi Theatre is now one of the venues (among others in Mumbai), but the program belongs to Junoon.
The Persistent Crusader
Sanjna Kapoor is Indian theatre’s most recognised personality. After running Prithvi Theatre for over two decades, the beautiful and effervicent Sanjna has started Junoon. She talks to Aarti Aney about her plans, hopes and vision for the future of Indian theatre.
Sanjna Kapoor
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You have always maintained that there’s a space for all sorts of theatre – traditional, contemporary, urban, and vernacular. But you are all about the urban; Junoon is for the urban environment. How important do you think it is to take it down to the rural? That’s not our focus. We don’t have the wherewithal to go to Dharavi, let alone to rural India! Someone asked me this at a talk, what sort of music would you teach slum kids vis-à-vis creativity in the arts? Bollywood, or popular music? And I told them that I wouldn’t even know where to begin! I don’t have the arrogance to believe I have the answers. But I do have inspirational stories. In Venezuela a man, Jose Antonio Abreu, who’s a musician, went out and started teaching in the flavellas (slums). This gave birth to El Sistema, and with the blessing of their government they now train hundreds of underprivileged children inn music. It proves that there’s a certain excellence and professionalism written into the system. So these kids get exposure and training with musical instruments of a huge variety. Back here in India, if you visit Bal Bhavan you will see these children banging out music on cheap Casio’s - its not uplifting, the kids have no insight, and they are getting the lowest common exposure. Today kids from El Sistema are sought-after musicians working in celebrated symphonies. Antonio had the inspiration and figured out the means to do
something about it. But that’s not our focus, and we’re not going to pretend that. But our focus is still self-worth for the urban kids. So, of course we want to change the world, but we are not foolish enough to say it, and then try and achieve it. We’ll do it step by tiny step. The urban scenario is the world we know and are familiar with. And we truly believe there’s a two-tier city out there which is ignored. If you simply take the map of both my grandparents (the Kendal’s), they went to the tiniest of places and performed; no metro group goes to these places anymore. And I believe now is the right time to reconnect. People are open to the arts, and with the idea of their children engaging in
the arts. It’s a tough battle, because how do you explain what the intangible benefits of a thing are? But it’s interesting, because now parents aren’t asking that second question about how the arts will translate into marks et cetera. There are many programs we are introducing to fuel this change. Could you elaborate? Arts At Play (Summertime at Prithvi Theatre), will carry on through the year in different forms. We offer school packages where we bring the professional arts to schools. And we want to reach municipal schools, NGO circuits, and the IB bunch…a broad range in an urban environment. Three specific things are on offer: a trip to a theatre
(watching a professional group perform) – this involves the whole theatrical experience, the world of a play, and an engagement with the director and actors, along with a little study pack which helps them delve deeper into what they have just witnessed. In the second, we take an artist into the school, and we have this person interact with the children in whatever it is that they do – mime, bol, kathak, whatever it may be. We create an interactive space, and then we have the artist perform a short tight piece so the children are wowed! The third is our teacher workshop program. We encourage them to use these arts as an experience, much like in our program with the kids In a recent interview with The Brew, Naseeruddin Shah expressed his admiration and gratitude for the work your grandparents, the Kendal’s, did. Naseer would love to do something like that! And this is what Junoon is creating and trying to make happen. We are trying to create our own infrastructure (we aren’t producing our own shows though), and making the access available to school to bring their kids to the performance. We are trying to bring the audience to the show, and the show to the audience, so we are the facilitators. We also completely believe that the art and theatre should be professional as that is the only way to create viable opportunities. The cost of a space must be subsidised, as that is the real killer. Prithvi Theatre runs at a loss every year and that’s the sad and shocking truth. Indians are great imitators, but there is no one running to copy a Prithvi, because it’s not a successful model. But Arundhati Nag did borrow from Prithvi Theatre, and Bengaluru has the Rangashankara. Yes there is, and on our 25th anniversary we celebrated the birth of Rangashankara. But that’s now two such spaces in all of India. Amongst over 1.2 billion people, it’s absurd. Mumbai alone has the capacity to house 10 Prithvi-like spaces, because it has the artists and the audience. I was reading a an influential McKinsey-type report, which said Mumbai was on its way to being the next Shanghai, but there was no mention of the arts. How is it that in a city filled with talent and artists, we do
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and even the theatre world, is creating prestige. And that’s all you need. You need something you value. Anand (Mahindra) has sustained it, and he’s doing it. And you need people like him who have the vision and the means to make it happen. And one day the government will wake up and say, “Ah! We’re missing something”. Theatre is no longer seen as just a stepping stone for the movies or television. What’s your take on this shift? Yes, I have seen this huge shift over the last six-odd years, especially in the metros. I see young professionals trying to make theatre viable, whether they are technicians or writers or actors or directors. This is what they want to do. And ironically that’s what breaks my heart, because I hope we can keep them, and that they don’t end up as bankers or stock brokers in another couple of years. We’ll lose them because they have to earn a living. But it’s changing and there are ebbs and flows. For instance, 20-yearsago parallel theatre in Bombay suddenly became viable. And then it snowballed in to commercially viable junk, and that was sad.
not create spaces for them? How do we have the arrogance to believe we can be a world-class city when we have no space for the arts? In places like Singapore they are building state-of-the-art spaces, and when they are ready they realise they don’t have enough talent and artists, and so they import them and shows and allocate lots of money to all this. Why have they discovered culture and the arts is important, while here we have a surplus of artists, but no brain space or vision in our policy makers to create and nurture the arts. But in places like Singapore they are making space for the arts as they believe its part of being worldclass cities. So instead of complaining and doing nothing about it, in steps Junoon. We are trying to inculcate the arts in our own small way and make it a necessary part of the framework, one step at a time. How much do you think government policy can change the way the arts are conceived, and influence their growth? Hugely! El Sistema began with a person, but the government supported him and his vision. In India we have lots of people coming up with ideas everyday, but the
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government does everything to block them and not support them. I stupidly went out 10-15 years ago and tried to cultivate Horniman Circle Garden (in Mumbai) as an alternate space for the performing arts, thinking it should become the norm. But fifteen thousand rupees in licence fees alone, out of which you only get a receipt for three hundred rupees? Plus you have to go to 7 offices for permissions et al. We failed, nobody else joined in. And when I went to the commissioner I realised within minutes of interacting with him that there was a whole corrupt system in place., but nothing changed. Do you think the scenario is changing despite these hurdles? Yes, I think its changing. There are people who are now more travelled; coming back from abroad, having seen how things work there, and they are coming back wanting. Even corporates like Mahindra and Mahindra with their Mahindra Excellence in Theatre Awards have come into the fray. What awards associated with big daddies like these do is, they up the value. They put the arts on the map, on a pedestal. The point is that the overall look of things amongst the media,
Does that really matter, so long as there is theatre that people are coming to watch? Yes it does. Because how will one create a critical, discerning audience, and a community of people who want theatre in their lives, if we are churning out rubbish? We need, even within the theatre community, to critique each others work, instead of just slapping each other on the back. Everyone is everyone’s pal, and it’s dangerous, incestuous, and not healthy. An arena for critiquing is essential. Even the media has backed out; there are no stimulating, thought-provoking, studied reviews of the plays. So when you say the media has backed out, can you remember a time when there was actually an intelligent theatre review section? Oh yes! About a decade and a half ago, The Times of India had a fabulous section for the arts. And it’s shocking how it’s all gone now. It must be brought back by the media fraternity. Also the corporates are now stepping in, and are offering sponsorships, tieups et cetera. Do you think it’ dicey as sometimes they want to control the content? I take it, laugh in their face, and say no! They can’t control anything. I think people in positions of power totally misjudge their power. And, I think if we cater to their
power then we’re foolish. So the onus is on us. And if we’re going to bow down, then we are stupid. But I’m not sure how long this corporate interest will last, because most don’t understand what they are putting their money in to. With the youth re-engaging with theatre afresh, do you think there are enough theatre spaces being built? Actually there are at least three spaces being built every year in big cities. They are very commercial. There’s nobody building spaces like Prithvi, or Chabaldas, or Rangashankara. Nobody seems to have the vision to build spaces that are nurturing, towards developing something. For example in Delhi you have Mandi House where most of the theatres are located. And there’s Kamani Auditorium, where they seem to be booked all year through, and they very proudly tell you that! But if you probe further you can see that they are booked out for weddings, receptions, corporate programs….hardly anything cultural! They charge exorbitant prices, and theatre isn’t subsidised. Prithvi is an adda, and for a lot of people going to Prithvi is like going home. There’s an intangible magic to that space, soo everything that happens there is tinged by that magic. Now with Junoon operating out of multiple venues, how do you think you will create that intangible magic and sustain it? We are very clear that the Prithvi-type magic is the environment we want to move with. So we need to create a lot of “homes”. Always two things are essential: one, which the management is on the same page as us, and understands what we are doing. And two, everyplace must feel like a home to the kids and their parents who come there. Of course, we cannot recreate the magic of Prithvi but it’s the learning we go with it. It’s about creating an atmosphere, and Junoon definitely wants to seed these hubs, and seed ideas for similar hubs and addas across the cities. Most of these institutions are keen to create an environment for artistic engagement. To seed a program to make it sustainable, it must have an aesthetic core to it. The mahaul has to also go along with whatever space we occupy. The bottom line the space must be open and welcoming, it shouldn’t make you feel small, and it must let you be who you are. We wish we could fold up Prithvi and put it in our pockets, and carry it everywhere with us, but we can’t! But we can do the best we can with the spaces offered to us.
up being a year of great contemplation for me personally. I sat back to take a look at what we had set out to do all those years ago, and if we had achieved it. A resounding ‘no’ came back to me. If you say it was set-up to become a home for professional Indian theatre, then no it has failed. There isn’t one single entire group that makes their bread and butter from theatre. So how has Prithvi Theatre failed at that, directly? Well, if we say that that’s what we had set out to do, then we should have done it, or made a big enough mark to make that change happen. I believe Amitabh Bachchan has a huge responsibility toward film. And he hasn’t done enough to impact his own world, which is cinema. Prithvi is like the Amitabh Bachchan of theatre. When you reach that level of success, you have to bear a responsibility. In my books, there is no excuse or option. Thus Prithvi bears a responsibility. It started with certain goals, and it wasn’t meant to become this Mecca, and even management-wise it’s not professional enough, and even what it demands from its groups isn’t professional enough. It should have pushed groups and upped quality. And I know why it didn’t make it, because I was a part of it. Maybe in 50-100 years it will achieve that! But my personal isolation was huge; I didn’t even know what was happening across the country. So that’s where my impetus came from to pull people together and form the India Theatre Forum (ITF). It has been a struggle; its main purpose is to get people to share their experiences, and to give strength, and energy - and very practically, not just academically. And it came from a space which says we have to
stop complaining, and get off our butts, and help ourselves since the government will not help us. Every civilized country should create a service like this, inter-linking connections and experiences to share work. You have spoken of creating an eco-system of theatre that involves an audience, the theatre, and the performing space. But these are vast areas. So how do you plan on going about building this realistically? Everything we do is toward building that eco-system. When we go into a school we are touching an audience, when we create the teacher programs we are touching an audience; all these people will hopefully get a discerning taste for the arts and what they can engage with. So next time there is a kathak performance, they aren’t going to say we don’t follow that, but will go try it for the enjoyment and joy of it. Bringing in an audience is the biggest challenge, especially in a city like Mumbai where there is so much noise and chaos, and choices. It’s tough to gather numbers. Thus when we say impacting the eco-system, we are referring to every minute detail, such as even our partners who give us their space to transform, our fantastic volunteers who ensure processes run like clockwork - it’s all about managing the arts, and guiding the experience. The world of rich experience has to be equal for both the performers and the audience. The culture of how we work can make a difference, and will rub off on others, and in turn we can learn from all our partnerships. We want to form lasting relationships.
Could you tell us more about the India Theatre Forum? It again came from an enormous feeling of isolation. Like in Prithvi’s 25th year, when we should have been celebrating, it ended Cinema, Music & Art with the Brew | june 2012 | 17
ART
few plugs. They viewed themselves as entertainers. But if I’m doing a serious Pygmalion, why should there be any place for a cell phone company in that play? How can there be, logically?
You have made it a mission almost to expose children to the world of theatre. Prithvi’s Summertime workshops for children have been going strong for the last two decades. Today about three in every twenty of those kids are actors, or in some way actively involved with the theatre. Are you happy about those numbers? Three out of 14 is a very, very big number, because the rest of them will become the audience. If you don’t have an audience, who will you perform for? The number of young people showing up for a play has gone down over the years. And I say this because, the population has grown, the mobility factor has grown, and the middle-class size has grown. I think we, the community, have failed people. Putting out 300 plays a year is only the tip of the iceberg!
Do you think that more theatre communes like Adishakti will make a difference? Oh, yes. It comes back to an ecosystem that nourishes, even ejects rebels.
Would you attribute that to the number of plays being put out? I think spaces like the Rangashankara and Prithvi are important, no doubt. But I keep thinking, “Come on! We are a country of a billion and more, we have big cities, and so many people crowding the cities. Are Rangashankara and Prithvi the only answers?”
Do you think India has some sort of colonial hangover when it comes to theatre? We do, yes. But young India is so large, and they want new things. So this is the time for us to claim space in their minds. You have so many distractions like television, malls, and 3D movies. The assault is so much, doling out these cabbages. The education system has not given these young people the aesthetic that we want Indian people to have. Aspiration levels are set by urban India. Rural India has language, and art. A woman in a village might be wearing torn clothes, but her wall is beautifully painted and adorned. India, unfortunately, is not feeding her with a sense of pride.
Do you think that has a lot to do with the economics of theater? I think the economics are going to change, there seem to be many indicators pointing in that direction. There is a much larger vision,
How do we, as a nation, cultivate this theatre aesthetic? I hope Privileged India will look in its backyard. There is a lady, Gayathri, who works here (at Rangasahnkara) and juggles
Indian Theater’s First Lady Indian Theater’s First Lady. Theatre and Arundathi Nag have been synonymous with each other for decades. As an instrumental cog in the theatrical machinery of India, namely in Bengaluru and Mumbai, she has been through the ups and downs of Indian theater. Aarti Aney caught up with her recently to have a chat about how it all began, where theater went wrong, and how young people are the future.
what with Sanjana (Kapoor) jumping out of just operating Prithvi and starting Junoon, and the India Theater Forum being set up - there are many big players now. Karnataka has had its own Heggodu, and you don’t get another Heggodu just like that in India. This makes Karnataka the only state that can look at the NCERT program of bringing theatre into classrooms. The corporate has also woken up to the fact that theatre can be used for teambuilding, for recognizing your own skills and potential, because dance and music are much tougher mediums to work with (in terms of time and skill). Now that the corporates are ready to pay people, even schools are waking up. There are people now who are making a living by doing just this (theatrical workshops and training), and doing well!
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Were corporates ready to contribute a while ago? Once we started building Rangashankara, the construction did not stop, and it took us three years to build, and seven years before the money started coming in. It was a depressed market to try and raise money in, therefore corporates were reluctant. There should be more Rangashankaras and Prithvis in a country that is really this big, and corporate funding will become the norm rather than the exception. Do you feel that corporate tie-ups lead to a dilution in creative control? There shouldn’t be any creative control. Although, I have friends from France, and when they came here they associated themselves with a cell phone service provider, and had no problems with a
both a career in software and in theater. She knows how to make theater happen, and has more knowledge about theater than she does acting! Her friend has made her millions and has now opened an eye-care clinic in Devanahalli (Bengaluru). These are the kinds of people that we need. You can’t use corruption as an excuse to write off everything. There are still a handful of people that you can’t buy. We need to plant seeds now, and create an audience, sensitive or otherwise to inculcate aesthetics of any sort – not just for the theatre. Do you remember your first experience on stage? I was in a play that didn’t get produced! I was cast, I went for a week’s rehearsals and then it got mysteriously shelved. My first time on stage was a dance in a colony in Delhi, in
which I played a boy. I still remember that dance very clearly; my sister still sings that song! My first theatrical entry on stage was for The Bishop’s Candlesticks by Victor Hugo, and then came Othello, where I played Desdemona. You say that you are far more comfortable doing Greek tragedies rather than Neil Simon. Why is that? Our skin and our color also determine the comfort zone that we occupy, is it not? There’s a very large gap between the Greek character that I am playing and me. She was. This woman still exists. But, since she is of the past, I can play her in many ways without breaking the illusion; I am creating one. But an American woman for instance is generic, and well-recognised. I cannot pull her off convincingly, as there is very little illusion. The physicality is responsible for making it convincing. The beauty of theater is that moment where the audience starts to believe everything you say. Do you think that formal training is necessary? It is good, both in theory and in actuality. You don’t have to learn through your mistakes. Training helps you realize your limitations in the formative period. It tells you how to use your kitbag better. Very few have the privilege of having the school of life, teach them. I am one of them. There was no television; people had time to look at you and advice. Who has the time today? Being one of the few theatre personalities to juggle a career in film, how did you do it? Here came this black box (the television), that threw us into the intimacy of being two-feet away from our audience. That made a difference. We were in a very beautiful shake-up. How do you react to someone who says that “anybody can act”? There are some actors who are just gifted. Like Naseer (Naseeruddin Shah), you just see him and he makes you believe! They are one cut above the rest. You either have that gift or you don’t. That being said, hard work pays; hard work always pays. Is there a way to bring more youngsters into the production stages of theatre? I want to just do a projection, and tell youngsters that they can come watch the play and discuss the play. The main mistake is that we haven’t managed to attract people, and for them to think “okay, this is where I want to be.” How does it feel to LIVE THEATRE, everyday? It is very, very gratifying. For me, being in theater is a logical end to where I am today. I’m not yet a hundred, but I can still see the future of the space. But I’m stepping aside from Rangashankara. I will still be a part of theater. This space has been like a child to me. And I believe that theater has to be paying. Right now, I’m a very satisfied person. This may not be a right thing to say for someone in my field! - With inputs by Abhinav Krishaswamy. Cinema, Music & Art with the Brew | june 2012 | 19
MUSIC
Sarangi
Samraat T
he declining popularity of Sarangi on the Hindustani classical concert stage was a great matter of concern in the last decade. Though a few apprehensive directors did manage to use this sophisticated instrument in their film projects, with many younger generation Hindustani instrumentalists neglecting their musical legacy seduced by the glitzy world of indypop culture, one felt there was soon going to be a serious lack of devoted young classical instrumentalists. Very little is known or written about the few genuine ones who slog day and night to uphold a legacy. One such promising musician who has not only got Sarangi back into active performance spaces but also broken new grounds in technique, style and presentation is the young Murad Ali of the Moradabad gharana. In an exclusive chat with Veejay Sai he shares his undying passion and commitment to keep the tradition of sarangi alive and make it accessible to younger music connoisseurs. Moradabad, a small town in Uttar Pradesh has been one of the heartlands of Hindustani classical instrumental music. Many senior Ustads have mastered the art of Sarangi, Tabla, Been and even vocal music from this gharana. How can one forget the legendary tabla player Ahmad Jaan Tirakhwa saab and great vocalists Ustad Chhajju Khan saab and Ustad Tajjammul Khan saab who belong to this gharana? Murad Ali belongs to the sixth generation of musicians from his family which has been serving music for the last 250 years. His grandfather
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Ustad Saddique Ahmad Khan saab and his father Ustad Ghulam Sabir Khan saab need no introduction to the world of Hindustani classical music. One of the biggest assets of Moradabad gharana , unlike many other gharanas, is each and every musician is trained in both vocal and instrumental styles of performing. So a sarangi player also makes for a great vocalist and vice versa.
my grand uncles and many others who patronized this instrument. Many of them left to Pakistan during partition. So the Moradabad gharana has its branches spread far and wide. And now I think it’s time to give this gharana its due and that’s why I have kept it a little aside from Bhindi bazaar and let everyone know the original name’ says Murad clearing the air off this much confused turf.
Moradabad gharana is also famously known as the ‘Bhindi bazaar gharana’ for various reasons. ‘Moradabad was a place with many families of musicians. Ustad Amaan Ali Khan saab’s family was one such family responsible for this name. More than that, it was people who would associate ustad ji
Moradabad is the foremost of gharanas that patronized Sarangi along with other gharanas like Panipat, Delhi, Jhajhar and Kirana. Sarangi, an instrument whose history has been well-documented has several interesting stories. In the days of yore, in the Middle East one hakeem Boo
with the bhindi bazaar because he lived in Bombay for many years where there were other ustads with a same name. Over a period of time it became very easy to connect and identify to Amaan Ali khan saab of the Bhindi bazaar for all music lovers. He personally would have never said he belonged to Bhindi bazaar gharana. The second most important music family was that of table players Ustad Ahmed Jaan Tirakhwa saab. He belonged to Moradabad, though his style of playing was that of farooqabaad. The third was our family of Sarangi players. My great great grandfather,
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Ali Ibn Sina, a student of the famed Pythagoras is said to have gone into the forests to collect plants and roots for his herbal medicines when he heard strange music emanating from under a tree. On closer scrutiny he noticed that entrails of a dead monkey whose intestines were being rubbed by a dry twig under the breeze were producing this music. In Abul Fazl’s famous Aine-akbari this story finds itself with a different discoverer. In the current times, the strings of the sarangi are made out of goat’s intestines. In Rajasthan an earlier version of this
instrument called Ravanhattho and Kamayacha with three main strings and about 15 sympathetic strings was in usage for a long time. The Kingri in Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh, the Kunju in kerala, Pen in Manipur and banam and kenara in Orissa were all various earlier rural avatars of the same Sarangi devoid of all ornamentation. From the point of view of its shape and structure the ancient musical instrument without the frets called Ghosvati or Ghoshak veena was perhaps the closest to the latter day Sarangi. In more modern parlance, the Pinaki veena, a gut-string bow instrument described in Saranga deva’s Sangeet Ratnakara (13th century A.D) bears a close resemblance to the sarangi we know. The modern day sarangi is a far accomplished and highly engineered instrument. ‘Sarangi Sau rangi’ , (the sarangi has a hundred colour) is an adage that goes aptly well with this instrument’s virtuosity to create such delicate and fine music. Played with cuticles and the lowest part of the finger nails, it is not an easy instrument to master. What started off as an accompanying instrument has slowly taken shape of being a classy solo concert instrument, thanks to the undying efforts of Ustads from all these gharanas. Speaking of his early days of learning music Murad recollects his taleem under his gurus. ‘I would have to spend many studious hours in riyaaz. It was not easy to see my cuticles bleed and feel the pain. I would just stick bits of tape around my fingers and carry on with my music practice’. Years of such hard work was bound to pay well and Murad won the first prize at the all India radio national music competition at the tender age of sixteen in 1992. Ever since then, there has been no looking back for him. Having accompanied the likes of Smt Girija Devi, Ustad Rashid Khan, Pandit Gopal Mishra, Pandit Briju Maharaj and many more senior artists from the world of Hindustani classical music and dance, he is currently an ‘A’ grade artist from AIR Delhi. Murad who feels that vocal music is important, like his seniors first learnt vocal before he graduated to taking the
Sarangi. ‘Vocal music is very important especially for sarangi players. When you learn the intricacies of Khyaal and other genres like dadra, tappa, thumri and so on in vocal, it becomes far more easier to practice it on the instrument’ says Murad. His grandfather the great Ustad Saddique Ahmed Khan saab was also a student of Hindustani vocal for twenty years before his gurus allowed him to touch the sarangi. A strong grounding in vocal becomes an essential part of an instrumentalist’s journey into musicdom. There have been many sarangi players who have mastered this instrument. But there have been a very few who can be credited with making sarangi the solo instrument. ‘Ustad bundu khan saab’s name stands out first. He was responsible for changing the presentation and the music of sarangi and taking it to a new stature. After him come Pandit Gopal mishra ji and Pandit Ram narayan ji who was responsible for making it popular in the music festivals across the world. There have been many others too, but you need to see who got the opportunity and who got the right platform to present their skill’, says Murad. The Sarangi has also been one of the main instruments to provide music for Kathak as a dance form to grow. ‘Initially when I set out to become a solo concert performer, my father also encouraged me to experiment. I was to learn how to play the lehraas with tabla or pakhajwaj as an accompaniment or how to play it with dance. For that I worked in Bharitiya kala Kendra in delhi for about six months to learn this art. The people there wanted me to stay back when I was leaving six months later, but this stay extended for six years and I had to beg myself out of that place to continue my work. But what I learnt there was priceless. The Sarangi is one of the most versatile instruments and can be played with all genres of music and dance forms if it is mastered the right way’, adds Murad. The Sarangi has come a long way. With the passing over of Hindustani musical patronage from royal courts to emergence of havelis and kothas of the nawabs, the Sarangi started
to become associated with mehfils and tawaifs or nautch girls. A little known fact is that even famous senior Hindustani vocalists like Ustad Abdul Karim Khan saab, Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan saab and Ustad Amir Khan saab who had begun their artistic careers as Sarangi players disowned their instrumental past on their path to fame. From classical concerts the Sarangi came to be a more popular instrument among lighter semiclassical forms like Ghazal and soon was adopted by the film industry for playback music. But how many ever such confrontations later, the Sarangi continues to survive the onslaught of time, space, technology and more
an ideal accompaniment to Hindustani Classical music. The subtleties that can be acquired through sarangi cannot be attained through harmonium due to its limitations. But lately, just for convenience sake, sarangi is being replaced by harmonium. One of the other reasons why its popularity is on the decline is also because of the fact that it is a difficult instrument to learn and master. But Murad with his determined efforts has been credited to elevate the status of the instrument with his fusion concert tours and other musical alliances. ‘I have toured with music groups like Indian Ocean and Shubha Mudgal Ji’s group and we have seen how widely sarangi has been
to constantly keep re-emerging as an instrument worth all ages and all times.
appreciated. I have collaborated with pianist Anil Srinivasan from Chennai and done classical fusion. I love innovation and love experimenting because this instrument easily accommodates such practices. Its musical limitations are almost negligible and hence for a player like me it comes as a blessing’ says Murad speaking about his musical collaboration.
Whatever be the origins of this instrument, many people have come forward claiming to be its original inventors in the past. ‘Earlier sarangi had 4 strings of Sa, Pa, Sa and Pa. In this last century, it was reduced to three strings. Now if I put the forth string back and say it is my invention, it is not right’, says Murad demystifying all these false claims of older artists who were supposed inventors. Being close to human voice and able to replicate patterns of vocal music, the Sarangi is
There is a falsehood generated by popular perception that Islam is against music and those Muslims who practice music are anti-Islamic. Breaking that myth once the late Bharat Ratna Ustad Bismillah Khan saab had said that
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those who say music is anti-Islamic know nothing of music or of Islam. ‘This is not true. Music is very much a part of all cultures. I have been to Jerusalem to the tomb of one of our saints and I was surprised to find the design of a violin engraved on his mazaar in that dargah. There were music notes written on the chaadar along with figures of other musical instruments because the saint himself must have been a person of music. So there is no such thing in Islam. That kind of culture which encourages excessive alcoholism, domestic abuse and violence and other immoral activities must not be encouraged anyways be it Islamic or not. It’s harmful for the society anywhere in the world. In fact Islam says a lot more things are haraam, why target something as divine as classical music? Classical music is pure and nothing can touch it’, says Murad with affirmation against all these rumours that do more harm to music and to Islam than anything else. Having over a dozen albums of solo and non-solo music albums to his credit, Murad is the new face of Sarangi amongst the performance and festival circles. The ‘Saurangi’ festival conceived and created by him and his team of efficient musicians was a landmark festival in the history of Sarangi as well. It is an annual feature marked on the musical calendar where a sarangi symphony is performed by a dozen players who play a scripted symphony. For the first time ever in the history of Hindustani classical music, the best of hundreds of Sarangi players and music connoisseurs gathered under one umbrella to enjoy a festival dedicated to this instrument. ‘In the past Pandit Ram Narayan did a similar event with hundred sarangis but that event was on a different level. I have tried to put together an Indian symphony like how Pandit Ravishankar used to do the national orchestra with different instruments’, says Murad about the Saurangi festival. Murad along with his twin brother Fateh ali , sitar player , vocalist imran khan and tabla player Amaan Ali have formed a group called ‘Taseer’. Taseer as a band has collaborated with many
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more musicians from across the world according to the needs of performances. Ask him if he believes if it’s possible to become a full time professional musician and he says ‘Yes! Why not! It depends on how much riyaaz you do, how committed you are to your music. Nothing is impossible’, he says. With such exponents like Murad Ali in its fold, the Sarangi can be proud to make a fresh come-back on the concert stage more actively. Murad proved many a
critic who thought that the sarangi was on the verge of extinction, totally wrong with his innovation, bowing techniques and newer musical collaborations. With a well-established aesthetic sense deeply rooted in his great legacy and in the tradition of his Gharana, so far as we have musicians like Murad Ali we can all say that Sarangi and its pristine music are in safe hands.
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CINEMA
One of the world’s most beloved characters is back on the big screen as a new chapter in the SpiderMan legacy is revealed in The Amazing SpiderMan™. Focusing on an untold story that tells a different side of the Peter Parker story, the new film stars Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Rhys Ifans, Denis Leary, Campbell Scott, Irrfan Khan, with Martin Sheen and Sally Field. The film is directed by Marc Webb. Screenplay by James Vanderbilt and Alvin Sargent and Steve Kloves. Story by James Vanderbilt, based on the Marvel Comic Book by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko. Laura Ziskin, Avi Arad, and Matt Tolmach are producing the film in association with Marvel Entertainment for Columbia Pictures, which will open in theaters everywhere in 3D on July 3, 2012. The Amazing SpiderMan is the story of Peter Parker (Garfield), an outcast high schooler who was abandoned by his parents as a boy, leaving him to be raised by his Uncle Ben (Sheen) and Aunt May (Field). Like most teenagers, Peter is trying to figure out who he is and how he got to be the person he is today. Peter is also finding his way with his first high school crush, Gwen Stacy (Stone), and together, they struggle with love, commitment, and secrets. As Peter discovers a mysterious briefcase that belonged to his father, he begins a quest to understand his parents’ disappearance – leading him directly to OsCorp and the lab of Dr. Curt Connors (Ifans), his father’s former partner. As Spider-Man is set on a collision course with Connors’ alter-ego, The Lizard, Peter will make life-altering choices to use his powers and shape his destiny to become a hero.
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SPIDEY FACTS 1. 2012 marks the 50th anniversary of Spider-Man. The classic Marvel comic book character made his debut in 1962 in Issue #15 of the anthology series Amazing Fantasy (August 1962). Amazing Fantasy ended with this issue and Spider-Man’s adventures continued in a new series, The Amazing SpiderMan, beginning in 1963. 2. Andrew Garfield is a lifelong fan of Spider-Man – he remembers an old snapshot of himself, at age 3, dressed as SpiderMan for Halloween. 3. Emma Stone portrays Gwen Stacy, a key character in SpiderMan lore and Peter Parker’s first love. Gwen Stacy made her first appearance in the December 1965 The Amazing SpiderMan #31). 4. The Amazing Spider-Man employed over 1,000 people. The film’s sets occupied seven stages at Sony Studios’ Culver City lot. 5. Andrew Garfield worked with personal trainer Armando Alarcon six days a week for six months to prepare for the role of Spider-Man. Garfield also worked with stunt coordinator Andy Armstrong and his team, doing trampoline work, power core moves, basketball skills, martial arts, gymnastic and parkour work, as well as skateboard skills. 6. Andy Armstrong and his stunt team maintained a training camp in a warehouse near Sony Pictures Studios, where Andrew Garfield worked with top instructors in each of several disciplines. The warehouse featured several elements of buildings, walls and other environments from the film, which the team used to recreate, rehearse and perfect the action sequences. 28 | june 2012 | Cinema, Music & Art with the Brew
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CINEMA
Set in the South two years before the Civil War, DJANGO UNCHAINED stars Academy Award®-winner Jamie Foxx as Django, a slave whose brutal history with his former owners lands him face-to-face with German-born bounty hunter Dr. King Schultz (Academy Award®-winner Christoph Waltz). Schultz is on the trail of the murderous Brittle brothers, and only Django can lead him to his bounty. The unorthodox Schultz acquires Django with a promise to free him upon the capture of the Brittles – dead or alive. Success leads Schultz to free Django, though the two men choose not to go their separate ways. Instead, Schultz seeks out the South’s most wanted criminals with Django by his side.
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Honing vital hunting skills, Django remains focused on one goal: finding and rescuing Broomhilda (Kerry Washington), the wife he lost to the slave trade long ago. Django and Schultz’s search ultimately leads them to Calvin Candie (Academy Award®-nominee Leonardo DiCaprio), the proprietor of “Candyland,” an infamous plantation where slaves are groomed by trainer Ace Woody (Kurt Russell) to battle each other for sport. Exploring the compound under false pretenses, Django and Schultz arouse the suspicion of Stephen (Academy Award®-nominee Samuel L. Jackson), Candie’s trusted house slave. Their moves are marked, and a treacherous organization closes in on them. If
Django and Schultz are to escape with Broomhilda, they must choose between independence and solidarity, between sacrifice and survival… Written and directed by Academy Award®-winner Quentin Tarantino, DJANGO UNCHAINED is produced by Stacey Sher, Pilar Savone and Reginald Hudlin. The executive producers are Harvey and Bob Weinstein, Michael Shamberg, Shannon McIntosh, and James Skotchdopole. DJANGO UNCHAINED will be released in the U.S. on December 25, 2012, and internationally by Sony Pictures Releasing International.
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CINEMA
(1969)
REVIEWED BY
GEORGE THOMAS
Rizzo(Dustin Hoffman) as his so called manager.
Shocking
Compelling
COWBOY
Daring
MIDNIGHT COWBOY Provocative MIDNIGHT 3. It’s the fitting that the film both begins and ends with Joe on a bus, since Midnight Cowboy is really his story. From the moment he pops up in Texas, we see the world almost exclusively through his eyes. He’s sick to death of washing dishes and figures, that he might as well test his mettle in the big city; we know that his country ways are too much for the urban jungle but Joe has yet to discover this. What happens then though John Schlesinger’s direction, is very clever not only do we meet the “before” version of Joe, but we are made a party to his inevitable corruption and moral disintegration. The story keeps step with Joe as he passes from woman to man, from hotel to street and from cowboy to
1. Nearly thirty years after its original release, “Midnight Cowboy” is still heartbreaking and timeless. This academy Awards winner for Best Picture, Best director and Best Screenplay, also boasts of Oscar nominated performances by Dustin Hoffman and John Voight. 2. At the centre of the story slouches Joe Buck (Jon Voight), all the way from small town Texas. Joe may not be a cowboy, even though he dresses in accordance with the public perception of roustabouts, but he is ‘hell of a stud’. The problem for joe is that he’s outgrown his birthplace, a magnet for too many bad memories. Thus he decides to jump on the cross country bus, to a place where rich women are always looking to be serviced by eager young men. That his naïve and trusting manner leads him into trouble, with “client” Casa (Sylvia Miles), is not a surprise. He winds up with sleazy Enrico “ratso”
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Joe may be tall and strong, an Adonis compared to Ratso, but New York is eating him alive. Midnight cowboy is driven by their unlikely alliance, a friendship born of adversity. In bringing those two strongly drawn figures to the screen, Hoffman and Voight give outstanding performances. Separately they locate the personalities of Ratso and Joe, digging out the experiences that shape their interactions with and reactions to, other people. Together the pair generate a chemistry, a beautiful and tender relationship of mutual dependency; this is heart to Midnight Cowboy. Others, such as religious nut Mr. O’Daniel (John Mcgiver), try to intrude upon this dance, but too little effect. Joe imagines catching the tricky Ratso in black and white, Ratso fantasies about Florida in glowing tones and Joe reflects on happier childhood times in soft focus. It’s a credit to the filmmakers that these mental drifts, squeezed in throughout the film, never disrupt the core plot. At other times, particularly during the party sequence, filters are used to heighten the impact of scenes.
tourist. Every quality that Joe felt defined him is stripped away, leaving him naked (figuratively speaking) but alive. Yet as much Voight defines the story, his Joe is nothing without Hoffman’s Ratso. What Ratso provides is a character “of the city”, someone who knows the cracks and the tricks, a person who tries to thrive despite the endless knocks. Unlike Joe we don’t get shown who knows the cracks and the tricks, a person who tries to thrive despite the endless knocks. We don’t get shown where Ratso came from this is not his story after all – but we do see where he is right now. It’s not much to write home about. Squatting in condemned building, but it’s Ratso’s space and Buck is the outsider here. Thus Ratso’s physical disability is offset by his street-savvy eye for a fast opportunity. 34 | june 2012 | Cinema, Music & Art with the Brew
Schlesinger has created an effectively timeless master piece. Despite themes that might seem anchored in the 60’s (pot, free sex, Warhol groupies), Midnight Cowboy escapes from the clutches of the period. It’s sad and touching central relationship is simply too strong to be tied down; the world has moved on but Ratso and Joe resonate just as forcefully. Midnight Cowboy is an excellent film that demonstrates the gap between ambitions and reality, and gives a flavor of what New York City ( and rural Texas) was like in the late 1960’s. Midnight Cowboy was also a landmark film which initially earned an ‘x’ rating. (The rating was later rescinded after the Oscars and it was awarded the “Best Picture”)
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CINEMA
For One
more day - By Mitch Albom
Reviewed by Neeru Nanda
C
harles “Chick” Benetto, a passionate base ball player who once featured in a World Series, is a has-been in every which way. Born and brought up in a small town called Pepperville Beach, a product of a broken home, Chick allows alcohol to ruin his marriage, home and job. The last straw comes when he receives a ‘notification’ that his only daughter had got married. The accompanying picture showed Maria, her husband and Chick’s ex-wife Catherine, caught in a moment never to be repeated. ‘It seemed to taunt my absence. And you weren’t there. I didn’t even know this guy. My ex-wife did. My old friends did. And you weren’t there.’ He was not invited. He was an embarrassment. There was no return address on the envelope. It broke him enough to go ‘Blundering back to God. Simple as that.’ Chick gets drunk and makes a midnight ride into his old hometown to jump off the water tower. But he survives and when he staggers into his childhood home he makes an astonishing discovery. His mother, who had died eight years ago, is there to welcome him and nurture him as if nothing had ever happened. “And then the door opened. And my mother stepped outside. My mother. Right there. On that porch. And she turned to me. And she said, ‘What are you doing out here? It’s cold.’ ” Life takes on a whole new meaning as he takes the leap, ‘ It’s like jumping off the planet’, and goes through one more day
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with the only person who loved him completely. He reverses the choice he had made in his childhood of being a daddy’s boy when his father had said, ‘You can be a mama’s boy or a daddy’s boy, but you can’t be both.’ With the tender guidance of this ‘ghost’ Chick puts the crumbled pieces of his life together again. A simple story, layered at more than one level and told by a master story teller, makes the story simple no more. As we all know the tale is in the telling and in this particular book I see a brilliant master pen. Since the book is not a current release (The hardback was released in January of 2007) I looked at the net for what was already written about the book. Accolades about the power of his words; accolades about the emotions evoked; accolades about the TV film, supposedly better than the book, launched with Oprah Winfrey’s backing. The genius lies in the structure. The way the story unfolds from two ends. The way the notes from Chick’s belongings have been used to flesh out Chick’s real nature. The way the underlying story is the resolution to the surface conflicts. The way the readers are made to come to the end of life and then travel back into time using the mother’s ‘ghost’ as a powerful tool to revisit all the wrongs and throw light on the real story as we adult readers would know it and understand it – not the disturbed, adolescent impressions that Chick had. It’s almost like Chick (and therefore the reader) healing himself through self hypnosis. Instead of lying on a psychiatrists couch he has made it as the protagonist in the book. The continuous use of opposites create an emotional see-saw reflecting the torn fabric of Chick’s mind: ‘Daddy’s boy. Mommy’s boy.’ ‘There’s only your life, and how you mess it up, and who is there to save you. Or who isn’t.’ The lyrical quality lies in the way the author, Mitch Albom, ties up his paras and his chapters full circle, with what he has already conveyed earlier –
not by pausing the narrative but by forward movement which does a full circle and the circles keep moving forward. Example: Do you remember that song, “This Could be the Start of Something Big?”…My mother loved that song. The chapter goes on in its narration and ends so: Later, I figured she didn’t want to be reminded of how the “something big” had backfired. The author shows his ingenuity at Structure in the first page of the story itself. It’s a subtle but palpable design. He begins without announcement, with a bang, with a page which is seemingly on the periphery of the story. Through the book he takes you on an emotional roller coaster ride, with his choice of words – simple but powerful; staccato
sentences – crisp and hard hitting; short, short chapters – sometimes just a page-and-a-half; and constant reminders of some deep insights into human behaviour. The entire story moves forward in circles. Words, sentences, chapters, ideas – they all keep doing a full circle and joining up with the initial idea. As a result once he grabs you (with his very first words: ‘Let me guess. You want to know why I tried to kill myself.’) he never lets you go. Not even in the last page when in one master sweep he brings the first page, or the first voice, loosely hanging on the periphery of the story, right into centre square with the Epilogue at the end of the novel.
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ART B: WHICH LIVING PERSON DO YOU MOST ADMIRE? PCR: I admire many people. I just honestly wish they were living. Unfortunately, not. B: WHO IS YOUR FAVORITE FICTIONAL HERO? PCR: My favourite would be Karna from The Mahabharata. B: WHO ARE YOUR REAL-LIFE HEROES? PCR: All those physically and mentally challenged people who have to brave impossible odds to achieve what they do, everyday. B: WHEN AND WHERE WERE YOU HAPPIEST? PCR: Then, Now, and Always. In the artistic endeavour, obviously. B: WHAT IS THE TRAIT YOU MOST DEPLORE IN YOURSELF? PCR: I have an acute intolerance to inefficiency. B: WHICH WORDS OR PHRASES DO YOU MOST OVERUSE? PCR: I honestly have no idea. Ask my critics!
In the
HOT SEAT P. C. Ramakrishna
B: WHAT DO YOU CONSIDER YOUR GREATEST ACHIEVEMENT? PCR: I am extremely proud of having given the human voice its rightful recognition. B: WHERE WOULD YOU LIKE TO LIVE? PCR: I’ve lived in Chennai almost my entire life, and I would love it if it stayed that way. B: WHAT IS IT YOU MOST DISLIKE? PCR: I dislike ingratitude. It irks me when people aren’t grateful for good things done unto them. B: WHAT DO YOU VALUE MOST IN YOUR FRIENDS? PCR: I have great respect for my friends. And I value their undemanding camaraderie the most.
His signature voice has provided the staying power for countless advertisements on television and radio. A prominent theatre personality, with a career that has lasted for over 5 decades, P.C. Ramakrishna joins The Brew for a chat: B: WHAT IS YOUR GREATEST FEAR? PCR: I fear nothing. B: WHAT IS YOUR CURRENT STATE OF MIND? PCR: I’m in a very positive frame of mind. You could say “positive plus”! B: WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE PRE-OCCUPATION? PCR: I’m always pre-occupied with music. I spend a great deal of time listening to as much music as I can. B: WHAT HISTORICAL FIGURE DO YOU MOST IDENTIFY WITH? PCR: The past is passe. I am a man in the moment, living everyday as if it were my last.
B: WHAT IS YOUR MOTTO? PCR: “Do what is right. The rest will take care of itself”.
B: WHO HAS BEEN THE GREATEST INFLUENCE ON YOU? PCR: Rather than “who”, it is “what”. My biggest influence has been The Prophet by Khalil Gibran, which is a collection of prose poetry essays written by him in 1923. B: HOW HAS THE FRAMEWORK OF THEATRE IN CHENNAI CHANGED OVER THE YEARS? PCR: I have noticed, over the years, that there has been a significant change to celebrating Indian writing in adaptation and translation. Along with this, there has been a remarkable improvement in the quality of original work that has been put out in the last couple of decades.
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B: WHICH PLAY WOULD YOU LOVE TO DO AGAIN? PCR: I would love to do Mercy again. But, alas, it’s too close for comfort. B: WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE YOUR EPITAPH TO READ? PCR: “The Voice of a Million Good Words.”
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